


The Red Paladin

by Canadiantardis



Series: The Paladins of Voltron [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A few alien OCs here and there, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Dreams, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Haggarian!Pidge, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Lotors only mentioned in this fic huh, M/M, Maybe hints of Allura/Shiro/Matt but its mostly platonic, Minor Violence, Past Brainwashing, Polyamory, Slow Romance, Surprisingly kidfriendly despite the angst, The boys figure out about polyamory, With A Twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-11-16 16:52:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11256990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: Knowing Earth is occupied by the Galra, and that Haggar - who is still in control of Pidge - is in the same system, the Paladins decide to try to hit two birds with one stone. If they can get rid of Haggar, they might just be able to free both the Earth and Pidge.Meanwhile, the teens really need to talk to one another about a thing called feelings. They could try to work things out after saving the Earth, but who are we kidding?//Sequel to Green, Blue and Yellow Paladin





	1. Nameless

**Author's Note:**

> This is the penultimate! Finally, we're here!

Keith was confused, staring at Lance and Hunk and trying to ignore the Yellow Paladin’s right leg. He wasn’t sure if he really saw what he thought he saw, even more unsure why his feelings weren’t making sense to how he should be feeling with seeing the guy he was in love with kiss someone else.

Lance got off Hunk within moments, looking over at his sister. “You’re really here. Miri, oh quiznak, I’m so happy you’re okay!”

His sister smiled, looking a little lost. “I am too. But Hunk needs medical help.”

Those seemed to be the magic words as Lance snapped to action, standing up and running out of the Lion, calling for Coran and leaving his siblings and the other two Paladins.

The older sister looked over to Keith with a closed expression, eyeing him up and down. The other two hid behind her legs, and it was only then that he realized the bleeding.

“Are you okay?” He asked, gesturing to the woman’s legs.

Miri looked down before nodding.

“What happened?” Keith knew it wasn’t from a weapon but some of the spots looked deeper than others.

“A… A pot shattered.”

There was a long silence, besides Hunk’s pained breathing and the two kids fidgeting behind their sister, until Lance finally returned with Coran and Shiro.

Shiro’s eyes went wide at the damage done to Hunk’s leg, bending down to help get him up to the levitating stretcher by Coran. “You’ll be okay, Hunk. Deep breaths, come on, follow me.” He started taking loud but slow deep breaths for the Yellow Paladin to follow as the Altean checked over things.

Lance went over to his family, and it was only then that the kids separated from their sister’s side, jumping on Lance with wordless cries, hiding their faces in his chest armour.

Keith watched awkwardly before feeling like he was intruding, so without alerting Lance or the others, he slipped out, deciding to follow Shiro as they brought Hunk to the Med Bay.

“How did this happen?” Coran asked as he got a healing pod up, hands hovering over the holographic buttons that still confused Keith with their meanings.

“I, I, I dunno. Everything’s a little jumbled.” Hunk chuckled painfully, his face warring between a smile and a grimace. “Got to the kids first, helped get some prisoners out as well. I… I don’t know where they went. Got the two kids to stay hidden by the escape pods, went to find Miranda. Think I might’ve given Lotor a new scar.” The laugh became more forced.

“A scar? How?” Shiro asked. Keith almost demanded to know why that was the thing Shiro stuck to out of the story Hunk told but kept his mouth shut for the time being.

“Bayard turned into, like, a trident or pitchfork or something. Really cool, not gunna lie.” Hunk chuckled again. “Got a hit on him, right on the jaw, before getting Miranda and running out. Managed to get to the kids and start the pod, and… I don’t know, got shot before the door closed or something.”

“Well, you did a fantastic job, Hunk. You saved countless lives, including Lance’s family.” Shiro said with what looked like a forced smile.

“Yeah, you took on the Galra at their base and beat them on their home turf.” Keith finally spoke up, putting a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “If you didn’t think so before, you are a hero.”

Hunk laughed, nodding with his eyes closed. “Thanks.”

Coran moved over to Hunk’s other side then, and the other two Paladins helped get their injured friend into the pod.

“You’ll be in there for under a varga or two. Sleep well, Hunk.” Coran waved as the pod lit up and Hunk’s smile froze.

The moment the pod closed around Hunk, both Keith and Shiro took a relieved breath, one’s breath more shaky than the other.

“Think I’ll see where Lance and his family are, get them settled in for however long we can keep them here.” Shiro said, straightening up.

Keith turned to him with a confused look. “However long? We can’t get them back to Earth until we get rid of the Galra in our Solar System.”

The older Paladin slumped a bit and he nodded. “Yeah. But we’ve never saved an entire system before. And what if we go into battle while those three are here? They’re just civilians.”

“But we can’t get them back to Earth until we get the Galra out. We’ll have to fight with them here either way.” Keith pressed, not liking what he was saying. “But they are safer here in the castle than back on Earth, at least for now.”

Shiro sighed. “Okay.” He nodded once before turning away, back to the Yellow Lion’s hangar.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

She was nameless. She wasn’t sure who she was, memories falling through fingers like water, leaving only drop sized pieces that could not be connected.

She knew nothing but the fact she had a brother, a mother and a father. She knew her brother and father went missing, but she couldn’t remember their faces, nor their names. She knew her brother wore glasses that she had for some reason. She knew her favourite colour was green, and there was something about wires that felt like home to her.

She wanted to remember her name, or understand where she was. It was dark and cold, with nothing in sight.

Then she thought she heard voices words like silk trying to reach her. The voices scared her, filled the nameless girl with such paralyzing fear she could no longer even think.

“Kill… Kill…” The voices whispered, commanded, demanded of her.

Instead of answering, the girl curled up, no longer touching the ground, hands over her ears to drown out the voices. “Please, no.” She breathed, but the voices did not listen.

Time was meaningless to the girl. At points, she felt time inch forward, the voices turning loud and angry while at other points, time went by in a flash and the voices were barely heard.

It was during these moments when another voice came to the nameless girl, a powerful force of a voice that exuded age, wisdom, and familiarity that made no sense to the girl.

“Remember, little cub. You must remember.”

But what was she supposed to remember? The girl wondered and wondered, unable to do as the familiar voice told her to do.

“Please, I need help.” She shook her head, begging the kinder voice to return, to hear her voice. “What do I need to remember?”

“Little cub, you have forgotten everything. You must remember everything then.” The voice replied cryptically.

The girl huffed. “Where should I begin?” She asked, hoping for clarity.

“Who you are.” The voice was fading as time began to slow again.

The nameless girl felt helpless, curling up again as she thought about what the kinder voice told her. Who was she? She knew she was a sister to a brother with glasses, a daughter to a missing father and a distraught mother. But what else was she?

Words, phrases came to her, but they made no sense, as if they weren’t real words, or in the right order.

The girl crossed her legs, resting elbows on her knees as she thought. Maybe if she knew her name, it would be easier to remember everything else. After all, she was sure she could figure out her own name if she really thought about it.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how long I've been wanting to write Pidge's pov again.


	2. Language Barrier

Shiro reached Lance and his siblings around the same time Allura and Matt reached them, if not later. He watched as the little kids kept a hand on one or the other of their older siblings, but their eyes were on the Princess.

The youngest - Shiro paused to remember her name, Pyrha - spoke in Spanish, clearly asking a question to Allura, and Lance was about to translate when the Princess laughed lightly and answered in English.

“Why thank you, little one.” She had a reassuring smile on her face and she crouched to be eye level with the younger ones. “Though it takes forever to brush out.”

“How do you understand Spanish, Allura?” Matt asked, looking over when Shiro reached the small group by the Yellow Lion.

“Hmm?” Allura looked up at the older humans in confusion before seeming to understand. “Oh, the castle can translate any and all languages. It is certainly helpful when meeting new planets and wanting to be diplomatic instead of ignorant. How else can you explain how you can understand me?”

Shiro had known about this fact, during one of the nights both leaders couldn’t sleep. He had been curious about how she knew English, and she had replied the same way as before.

“So, why can’t I understand Spanish yet?” Matt asked, curious.

“Oh, they just have to get into the main part of the castle and then speak normally. The castle will take it from there.” Allura replied.

“So I could have been speaking Spanish this whole time and you all would have been able to understand me? No fair.” Lance sounded overdramatic, and as Shiro looked him over, he saw that Lance was actually smiling, seeming a lot more relaxed than he had been the past couple months.

“It’s for diplomatic purposes, Lance. Imagine not being able to understand another language and being unable to tell if the other is friendly or foe?”

“Actually, we can. Earth history taught us exactly what happens then.” Matt spoke up. “Never really ended well. So it makes sense, Princess, to have something that translates all languages it comes across.”

Allura smiled and stood back up, beckoning the others to follow. “Come, we should make sure our new companions are comfortable.”

She led the group to the main living area, and along the way, Lance pointed out various places they passed in Spanish to his siblings, until they all passed a certain part of the castle and Shiro understood what was being said.

“The food is totally the weirdest.” Lance said, pointing down the hall where the dining hall was. “It’s not even food, but like this goo. Somehow has great skin care qualities, I mean, you should try it. Pores are non-existent, and it lasts ages. Check it out!” He started gesturing to his face.

“Incredible, but gross, Leo.” Lance’s older sister replied, but Shiro saw a soft smile on her face.

Soon they reached the living area, Matt excusing himself from the room and the two kids finally separated from their older siblings to explore the area while Allura had Miranda sit down on the half-egg shaped sofa.

“What happened to your legs, if I may ask?” Allura asked, checking over her legs, wiping the dried blood to check the damage.

“Uhm, a pottery jug fell. Caught my legs.” Miranda rubbed her bare arm.

“Hey, that reminds me, Miri, what are you wearing?” Lance asked suddenly, gesturing to her clothes. It was like she was wearing some kind of tight top that covered her enough in the chest but ended roughly where her ribs ended, and a low-rise skirt that went halfway down her thighs.

Miranda looked uncomfortable at everyone looking at her, lifting her legs to cover her torso. “He made me. That, alien, creature.” She took a breath before speaking quickly and lowly, eyeing the younger two playing in a corner. “He said if I listened to him, they wouldn’t be hurt. Made me… _serve_ him.”

Lance’s face grew furious until Miranda noticed and grabbed his arm, smiling at him. “I’m fine, though, Leo. We’re all fine, and he at least kept his word.”

“That’s a surprise.” Lance quipped almost angrily, and Shiro frowned, wondering what he meant by that.

“Yes, you and your siblings will be just fine now.” Allura assured, looking around the room before she got up and headed to one of the cabinets and searching through it. “This castle is possibly the safest place to be for now, until we find a way to return to your planet.”

“What? Allura, the Galra have control of Earth!” Lance cried, sounding like Keith in that moment.

“I understand, so that is what we must do. We have no way to help Pidge yet as Haggar’s whereabouts are unknown now. Our best bet is to save Earth so at least your families will remain safe.” The Princess replied, holding a bottle and walking back to Lance’s family. “In the meantime, we should go over your wounds, then find suitable rooms for you and your younger siblings.”

“Can they be in the room beside mine?” Lance asked quickly.

Allura nodded after a brief pause, and Shiro watched as the Princess opened the bottle and put two fingers to the opening, dabbing something clear onto them. “This might sting, but within a few minutes, your cuts will be gone.”

“Really?” Miranda looked curious as Allura applied the clear medicine, gasping in pain at the first contact, but she let the Altean continue. Once all the cuts were fixed, she tapped at the skin. “Amazing.”

Allura smiled. Shiro watched the interactions with a soft expression. There was something about seeing Allura helping others, seeing the lines of worry or stress disappear and remind him how young she was.

Princess Allura stood up. “I will see you all for dinner, then. Lance can show you where you’ll be able to rest, and if you need other clothes, I can lend you anything I have in my closet.”

Miranda smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Princess.”

“Do not thank me, that praise should go to Hunk. I fear, without his quick decisions we would not have gotten to you for another few days.” The Altean princess nodded, heading for the door. She saw Shiro and with only a nod, sent a message to him to join her.

The two fell into step easily. The moment they were out of the living area, Allura wrapped her fingers around Shiro’s wrist gently.

“I cannot forgive Lotor for what he did to Lance’s family members. Using them like that… He’s just like his father.” Allura spat the last few words, and Shiro saw the anger return to her expression.

“We’ll stop him, just like we did with Zarkon.” Shiro promised.

She sighed, bowing her head. “That battle scared me so much. I thought I had lost you, all of you.” She stopped walking, bringing the Black Paladin to a halt as well, her hold on his wrist tighter than before.

“I thought I had lost you too.” Shiro couldn’t admit it yet, but some of the nightmares that continued to plague him were her screams when the castle had been hit. “But we’re both here, we’re still fighting, and we have more help than ever before. We’ll do everything in our power to win this war.”

He wasn’t sure how much his words weighed in her head, but after some moments to think it over, Allura lifted her head with a determined smile. She leant forward to kiss Shiro’s cheek and nodded. “Of course.” She said, slipping her fingers between his before they started to walk again, towards the bridge.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to put some Shallura fluff in somewhere. They are just so sweet.


	3. Dinner Planning

Keith had stayed in the medical bay the entire time Hunk was in his pod, a frown on the his face. He couldn’t understand his own feelings.

He sat on the steps across from Hunk’s pod, his chin cupped in his hands with his elbows digging into his knees as he watched his friend.

Keith wasn’t angry or jealous by the kiss that happened, he knew that for sure. Seeing Lance kiss Hunk seemed… right in the situation. Hunk had just returned, injured but with Lance’s sisters and brother and Keith thought he felt the same way as Lance when they both saw Hunk. If anything, he was confused why he wasn’t angry or jealous of Hunk.

He had just reached that conclusion when the familiar - _why was the sound becoming so familiar -_ soft _fwshh_ caught his attention and his eyes focused on Hunk waking up.

He stood up quickly and headed over to the pod, ready to help Hunk out of it as the Yellow Paladin took deep breaths and started to fall forward.

“Hey, man. How’s your leg now?” Keith asked, taking some of Hunk’s weight and helped guide him to the steps to sit down.

“Stiff, actually.” Hunk chuckled, rotating the ankle. “Guess I should be glad they missed the bone. I can still feel everything past where I was hit, so I don’t think most of my nerves were fried.”

Keith breathed out in relief. “Good. It wouldn’t be good if one of Voltron’s legs didn’t have a functional leg to stand on.”

Hunk laughed lightly, bumping Keith’s shoulder. “Boo, that was terrible, Keith. Have you been hanging out with Lance too much? He rubs off on you.”

Keith stuttered, knowing the conversation would have happened sooner or later but still unprepared. “I, well-”

“I’m joking, Keith.” The younger teen said, a light smile on his face.

The two trailed off in silence, and for one of them it was a comfortable silence, but the other was figuring out how to ask his questions.

The time was almost right when the doors to the med bay opened and Matt came through. All three jumped in surprise.

“Oh, I, uh, I was just coming to see Katie.” Matt stammered, pushing his glasses up his nose. “I, I can come back later…”

“No, it’s fine, Matt. I just needed to catch my balance.” Hunk replied, standing up slowly and helping Keith to stand as well. “We were just about to leave anyway.”

Matt didn’t look convinced but still headed for the middle of the med bay to pull Pidge’s pod up as Hunk headed out, Keith just a couple beats behind him. He snuck a glance back at the Holt siblings just as Pidge’s pod came up, looking much the same as the last time they saw her, crease in her forehead and all.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Shiro found it both a welcome sight and a weird sight during supper to see so many people eating. But even he had to admit, watching the little kids try out the goo, and somehow enjoying the taste while Miranda made sour faces every time her tongue touched the green stuff, was enjoyable and lightened the mood of at least the younger three Paladins, particularly Lance.

Watching Lance eat was a nice change of pace to the last few months. He talked loudly, waving his arms as he told his siblings all the things that have happened since he last spoke to them, a week before Shiro had reached Earth.

Supper was nearly over when the mood of the table grew a bit more serious.

“I know this isn’t the best time for making plans, but it would be best if we started to talk about what we have to do now. We have to bring back you three to Earth, and to do that safely, we have to get rid of whichever Galra is in charge of your system.”

“We also still have to save Katie.” Matt piped in, putting down his spork.

“Yes, but to do that, we need to get to Haggar.” Shiro said, seeing the frown on Matt’s face.

“Who is this Haggar?” Miranda asked. “What does she look like?”

“She’s the witch that works for Lotor and Zarkon. The one who did this to my arm.” Shiro explained, holding up his mechanical arm. “She’s normally in a long robe to hide her face.” He glanced over to Allura for a moment before continuing. “But she has pale hair that passes the hood.”

“That other alien?” Miranda seemed to guess, and Shiro and Lance straightened.

“You saw her while you were trapped?”

Miranda nodded. “She came just maybe half an hour before Hunk arrived to save us, but she left to…” Her eyes slid closed in momentary thought before they snapped back open. “The other one, Lotor said she was in charge of, uhm, capturing the rest of our system.”

“Wait, what? Really?” The words seemed to burst from Keith’s mouth.

“That’s fortunate then.” Allura said with a half-hearted smile.

“Hitting two birds with one stone.” Hunk commented.

“What are birds?” Coran asked.

“Oh, they’re normally small flying creatures back on Earth, but what I’m saying is a metaphor, kind of. We can do both things now instead of having to do one then the other.”

“Ah, so like hitting the ojanious is a saying back home.” Coran nodded to himself as Shiro and the other Earthlings blinked in confusion.

“Yeaah, so we now know we don’t have to go far to save both the Earth and Pidge. This is better than nothing.” Shiro said.

Allura stood up. “I will begin setting up a jump to your system, but in the meantime, you Paladins should begin coming up with plans on how to defeat the Galra that are there.”

“Yes, Princess. We will.” Shiro nodded to the other four. “Let’s go start planning, guys.”

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Elsewhere in space, a message dinged softly.

_Incoming message_

_Progress is coming along fine. Over half of the planets and moons are now under Galra rule, while conquering the Earth planet is still going slower than we would like. The creatures are stubborn and have fought against us at every turn. But we still have conquered most of the lands either way._

_Vrepit Sa_

_H._

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Progress and not progress all across the board, ahah. Let's see which teen figures out what Polyamory is first, shall we?


	4. Reach

Keith needed to clear his head after they came up with their plan. His feet moved without much thought, and he wasn’t very surprised to see the large empty room surrounding him, his bayard extending to its sword form and his mouth issuing the routine he had set up.

Fighting was the only time Keith could think clearly. Movement was automatic now. _Step left, parry and push, swipe to the right, and the training dummies fell like flies. Step right, stumble back, feign left, get into the personal space and stab with all his strength._ With his body occupied, his mind began to drift.

There was so much he had to figure out, and the two biggest things were… standing side by side at the entrance of the training area.

It was the green and yellow that tipped him off who was standing there, and distracted him enough that the automatic footwork stopped and next thing Keith saw was the butt of the staff pressing on his chest.

“End simulation.” Lance said, walking forward as the bot straightened up and vanished, a tanned hand replacing the staff. “Hey, need a hand, Mullet?”

Keith made a face but accepted the hand and got to his feet again. “What are you two doing here? Didn’t you both say you wanted to sleep after the meeting?”

Lance quirked an eyebrow. “Have you not stopped since the meeting? Man, that was several hours ago. We both got up less than a varga ago.”

Keith blinked, looking around for however he could measure time until his stomach told him by rumbling. “Oh.” He must’ve had more on his mind than he thought.

“We were coming here to see if you wanted to eat breakfast with us.” Hunk spoke up. “It’d just be us, since everyone else seems to be asleep still.”

“Just us? Uh, sure?” Keith’s stomach made another rumble but he felt something else he couldn’t entirely understand.

All the same, he lowered his bayard, disengaging the sword and walked after the other two teens to the kitchen, not speaking but listening to the others speak.

Lance kept going on about his brother and sisters, sounding emotional by how much they’ve grown up since he last saw them, and then talked about the conversation they all had before his older sister made them all go to sleep.

“They were told we were killed in a training simulation. Nothing was found of our bodies. Mama… Mama took it bad, and Miri said Papa stopped smiling. He _never_ stops smiling.” Lance’s head ducked down, his bangs hiding his face from the other two. “They all think we’re dead.”

Keith’s jaw clenched, and the impulse to deck Iverson returned like it had been in hibernation. Instead, he took one of Lance’s hands and squeezed gently.

“We’re going back. You’ll both be able to show the world you’re not dead. And better yet, once we save Earth, everyone will know your names.” He said, hoping to sound reassuring.

From the angle Lance’s face was, Keith couldn’t tell much but thought he saw cheeks crease in a smile and he took a step to walk physically closer to Keith, a warmer version of the shell that had followed him just a couple days ago.

The three reached the kitchen in no time, and while Keith sat on a chair like a decent person, Lance sat himself down on the table, a foot on the nearest chair and Hunk got the goo. The younger teen sent a glare to Lance until the Blue Paladin slid off the table and into a chair with a playful huff, and only then did they get food.

Maybe it was because of lack of sleep catching up to him, or some other stupid reason, but between sporkfuls of goo, Keith spoke up. “Lance, why did you kiss Hunk?”

The sounds of eating stopped in a heartbeat, Lance’s spork halfway to his mouth with a confused expression frozen to his face while Hunk didn’t have an expression Keith understood.

“That happened?” Hunk spoke first, tilting his head. “I thought it was pain making me imagine that.”

“Oh, that.” Lance’s confusion melted into a nonchalant shrug. “It felt right, y’know? In the moment.”

“Did it mean anything?” Keith pressed, and he and Hunk saw the confused expression return.

“Yeah? Of course it did. I wouldn’t have kissed him if I didn’t want to.” Just like a contagion, confusion spilled into the entire room.

“Then what about our kiss. Did that mean anything to you?” Hunk’s eyes widened fractionally but Keith ignored him for the moment, needing an answer.

“It’s the same thing, Keith. I wouldn’t have kissed you if I didn’t want to.” Lance said, almost defensively. “What’s wrong with who I kiss, man?”

“I thought you liked me! But then you go and kiss Hunk, and I…” Keith tried to get the words out, but at that moment, Matt came in, yawning into a fist and pushing his glasses up.

He froze just a couple steps into the kitchen, blinking hard as if trying to quickly rid the sand from his eyes as he glanced from one teen to the other.

“Am I interrupting something?” He asked.

Keith shook his head and got up, putting the uneaten goo away and heading out, refusing to listen as Lance and Hunk called after him.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

She wasn’t sure how long she had been thinking when the aggressive voices came back, louder than before. With a wordless cry she returned to her curled form. The voices were angry, and the girl couldn’t understand why or at what, but did realize all the possible progress she made disappeared, slipping back into the void like smoke.

“Them… Kill… Them… Kill…” They ordered, while she curled into a smaller form, hoping to be ignored.

“No, please. I don’t want to.” She whispered in pain. “Stop, please, I don’t want to!”

The voices did stop, instead to hiss. “Nothing… Pawn…”

Finally, they left again, but this time, the quiet led to a memory. The girl found herself watching as if outside of her body. She saw a short creature, with the ends of her hair curled and messy, as if fleeing from the creature’s neck. It took a bit of time to recognize the creature as herself, but when she made the connection, she gasped in horror.

Something wasn’t right about her body. The skin was discoloured at sections where a purple ratty one piece showed skin, and her eyes, although she had never seen them before, struck fear into her heart. Even the girl, who couldn’t remember her own name, knew her eyes were not meant to be that dull, half-lidded and tired.

Timed seemed to move once the girl saw the damage made to her body before a noise startled her. Suddenly large, huge things came at her, and she simply watched as her body fought against them, barely making a grunt as hits landed on her arm, her hip, her chest. The only sound she made was the sudden cry of pain when one of the creatures struck her with an uppercut, sending her toppling to the floor, and she remembered the blood that filled her mouth, having bitten her tongue hard.

As if the punch had sent her out of the memory, the girl found herself back in the floating void. She put a hand to her mouth, trying to feel for blood but found nothing. She only had to guess that memory wasn’t the most recent, but she couldn’t figure out what happened to her for that to happen.

“Do not be afraid, my cub.” The girl jumped at the gentle voice, her head popping out of her huddle.

“Please, what happened to me?” She cried.

“Have you remembered who you are?” The voice asked in return, not unkindly.

“I can’t! If all my memories are like that, I don’t…” She stumbled over her words, shaking her head. “Please, help me! Who am I? Who are you?”

“You are my cub, little one. I cannot give you anything until you figure it out. All the pieces are within grasp.” The voice was beginning to fade. “All you need to do is reach for them, my cub.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I half feel bad that I keep using Matt as the interrupting person, but I'm not gunna make it easy for our boys.  
> Not yet anyway.


	5. Sparring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there was no update on Friday! I wasn't anywhere where I could get wifi. But hey, this week we get an update Monday AND Friday!(And looking at these two chapters, it seems very fitting, you'll see later)

Shiro was on the bridge with Allura when Matt came in, a thoughtful frown on his face before it disappeared in surprise to see the other two.

“Morning, Matt.” Allura greeted with a smile, her eyes on the map. Allura had asked Shiro to tell her everything they’d need to know about their Solar System, something Shiro could still recite from years in the Garrison.

Shiro saw the look on Matt’s face and waved him over. “You okay, man?”

“Huh? Yeah, of course.” Matt replied, heading to the Green Paladin’s seat and pulling up the screens. “What are you two doing?”

“Shiro here is helping me figure out terrain. Tomorrow we are about to attack the Galra and hopefully put an end to that horrible witch’s control over Pidge. Since it is your, uh, ‘home turf,’” Allura air-quoted, “any advantage we have over the enemy is vital in these circumstances.”

“Oh?” Matt looked up from his screens. “That… Makes sense. Smart thinking, you two.”

“Yeah, Allura figured it out last night. She couldn’t sleep without knowing the planets and all that, you know?” Shiro said, looking between Allura and Matt, who was now sitting cross-legged on his seat. “You can also tell us what’s bothering you, Matt.”

Matt looked surprised, but shook his head. “It’s nothing. I just, I think I’ve been busting in on the other guys a lot lately. They always sound so serious and clam up when I come in. It’s weird.”

Shiro rose an eyebrow, thinking about what could be on the other three’s minds, but shrugged. “It’s not really our concern. And they’ll make up soon. Maybe it’s the stress.” He ran a hand through his hair, knowing with every passing month more of his dark hair grew white with all the anxiety and stress of leading the team and fighting almost every day.

“Yeah, I know. I just feel like I keep interrupting them at the worst time for them. Makes me paranoid I’m going to hear something real bad.” Matt shook his head.

Shiro shrugged again. “If something’s going on with those three, let’s just let them have their time to figure it out.”

“Shiro, where would a good place to hide the castle in your system?” Allura spoke up, pointing out to Shiro Venus and Mars.

“Mars.” Matt answered instead when Shiro was about to open his mouth. “It’s larger, and just a bit closer to Earth than Venus is.”

Allura tapped a finger to her chin in thought before nodding, creating a pinprick and setting it on the dark side of Mars. She looked over at the two with a serious expression. “Remember, only if you are all in serious danger, you call for us to assist. You know how Lance will react, so I’d like to make our helping with the fighting the least likely of possibly harming his family.”

“We know. Lance reminded us throughout the meeting to make sure we kept his family safe.” Shiro said, standing up. “Hopefully we won’t need your help this time, Allura. Even though I know you’ll want to fight.”

“Of course I want to fight. Haggar betrayed our people. She’s hurt you, both of you, and Pidge.” Allura sighed, ducking her head. “Just make her pay.”

“We will, Princess.” Shiro said, looking over at Matt, who was now glaring at the screens in front of him.

Allura had the ghost of a smile on her face, her eyes growing steely. “Now, you and the other Paladins will be flying with us through the jump to the red planet, then you’ll go attack the Galra to free Earth and the rest of the system.”

“Mostly Earth. We still have yet to find any aliens within our own system. Some of the higher ups still believe we are the only sentient life out of the 8 planets.” Matt shook his head.

“Still, we don’t want any Galra in the Solar system. And we can’t let Haggar escape, or we’ll never be able to free Pidge.” Shiro put in.

The three continued to talk over the plan, ironing anything they felt were too vague between them. It was a soothing thing, to elaborate plans and finding any potential flaws before having them happen to them for real.

After that, Shiro invited Matt to come spar with him, having realized Shiro never actually saw Matt fight. Matt was all too happy to comply.

“Do you have any practice staffs?” He asked, and Allura’s head straightened.

“Oh, yes, of course.” She said, stepping down from her place. “Would you mind if I watched or joined?”

Matt and Shiro looked at each other. “Course you can, Princess.” Matt said.

The three headed to the training area, only to see Keith demolishing training bot after training bot with an almost furious expression, with a sheen of sweat sticking to his loose shirt, making it stick to him. He only stopped when he saw the three enter, staring at them like he couldn’t tell who was there for a moment.

“What are… you guys doing here?” Keith panted, his bayard’s sword tip touching the floor.

“We were planning to spar. Wanna join in? We can go two v two.” Shiro suggested.

Keith nodded. “Sure, sounds good with me.”

“Okay, you and Matt, against Shiro and myself.” Allura said, walking into the room with confident strides, waving a hand to Matt to show him the staffs.

“Oh good, maybe I’ll finally not end up on my butt thanks to a sneaky staff.” Shiro joked, watching Allura smile brightly.

“You still need to watch your opponent more closely.” She teased back, holding her staff across her body. “So, rules: First team to get both opponents down at the same time wins. No sword or your activated hand, Shiro. Other than that,” Allura had a smile similar to Lance’s mischief grin, “all is fair game. Good luck.”

The other three nodded and they began sparring, Allura taking on Matt, leaving Shiro with Keith. The room began to fill with sounds of staffs hitting staffs or soft thuds when they landed blows on another. Matt and Allura traded advice on how to hold the staff better, or lightly taunting one another, but Keith was silent. For Shiro it was weird, as during their spar matches, Keith was less reserved and very willing to help his fellow paladins on how to fight better.

“What’s up, bud? You’re going at this way too hard. You’re going to run out of energy if you keep this up.” Shiro said, easily blocking a left hook and pushing Keith back several steps.

Keith didn’t answer but tried to do a jump-kick at Shiro’s head, only to be blocked again.

“Keith, you’re too predictable now. I can see you going on autopilot.” Shiro ducked away from the next attack. “That only works on bots.”

Keith still didn’t speak, and it was starting to confuse Shiro. Finally, he threw a punch that the older Paladin caught in his prosthetic hand, holding it when the younger tried to pull away.

“Keith, come on, talk to me, bud.” Shiro said, refusing to let go of his fist.

All he did in return was grunt, a furious frown on his face that grew more frustrated… No, not frustrated, Shiro realized, he was desperate. Shiro left his fighting stance and took a step closer to Keith.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! I’m fine!” Keith shouted, and the room froze. Allura and Matt stopped, stepping back from one another to see what was going on, and Shiro stood in surprise.

The surprising outburst allowed Keith to pull away from Shiro, and his eyes were wide, like a creature caught in a corner.

Without another word, Keith ran out of the training area, leaving the young adults in confusion.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had realized I hadn't shown Matt fight at all. So, this was the best way to show it. And it's all because of the Shiro and Matt picture, where it looks like they're about to fight someone. I can't believe how long it took me to realize that, and even longer to actually put it into the fic. aha  
> Also, Keith, you're angst is showing.  
> And yes, you do see this fic being the shortest of the series with only 9 chapters, but don't worry just yet.


	6. Partners

Keith knew he was running from his problems, literally, but he didn’t know his own feelings on anything that was going on. He had thought the training area would be the place to think and get his head back on track, but it had felt all too soon when the older three arrived to train as well. Then Shiro began prodding, sounding so genuine about helping, but how could he help with something Keith was absolutely sure Shiro would never understand in the first place?

So he ran from Shiro, heading to the one place he knew he would be left alone.

Scarlett seemed to sense his agitation before he even reached her hangar, but Keith refused to answer her pestering pushes until he reached the cockpit.

Once he sat down, he grabbed at his temples with a loud groan. His Lion gave another push, demanding to understand the frustration.

“Fine, fine!” Keith shouted in reply, and he could feel Scarlett reproach him. “Sorry, I’m just… I don’t know.”

He let his hands drop into his lap. “I don’t know. I don’t understand what’s going on with me.”

Scarlett gave a reassuring pressure to his mind, letting him know she would help with what she could.

“I… Do robots even understand things like feelings or… romance or whatever?” Keith asked.

His Lion rumbled, and he saw himself, the time he saved her from the Galra. He felt unknown acceptance towards himself, and realized he felt what Scarlett had felt during their first meeting.

He nodded, coming back to himself and drawing a leg up the seat to rest his chin on. “Okay, maybe you can help then.”

He took a breath and spoke.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

After Keith had stormed out of the room, Allura and Matt decided to simply return to sparring with each other, making Shiro referee. It got Shiro to take his mind off the whole Keith deal as he watched Matt and Allura go at one another.

And Matt was holding his own against the Altean Princess. He was honestly impressed by the parrying and dodging, even more impressed when Matt landed a hit on Allura.

“You keep leaving your left side wide open to attacks, Princess.” Matt chided, landing another hit on her left shoulder when Allura tried to take out Matt’s legs. “Remember to not only think of where you want to hit, but how your own body will look to the enemy.”

“I know, but even when I think I’m one step - _ah_ \- ahead,” she grunted as she dodged Matt’s attack, “you’re there another four steps in front of my moves.”

“Well, I wasn’t the King of Chess for nothing back at the Garrison.” Matt gave a lopsided grin, landing a hit on Allura and knocking her down, much to Shiro’s utter disbelief. “And this is Checkmate.”

Allura laughed, a wide smile on her face. “Nice job. You’re the first human to beat me in a spar match.”

Matt looked surprised, looking over at Shiro with his hand outstretched to help the Princess up. “No way, not even Shiro’s beat you yet?”

Allura shook her head, taking the hand and getting up with a grunt. “Nope. But he has gotten close. Him and Pidge have both been the only two to land hits on me.”

“Katie can fight?” Matt looked confused for a moment before he seemed to remember where in the universe he was. “Oh, wow. Why can’t the others get close?”

Allura chuckled, leaning on her staff. “Well, Keith and Lance are too predictable at this point. It’s easy to avoid their attacks, and Hunk, while he has the power behind his attacks, doesn’t have the necessary speed. He’s also used to fighting the enemy from afar, not close range.” She explained, before looking between Shiro and Matt with a curious expression. “Anyway, let’s see who wins between you two. Not all your enemies will have something like a sword or staff, and Shiro can get into the close range that makes it hard to use the staff.”

Shiro was surprised by Allura’s words, and he looked over to Matt to see if he wanted to try sparring with him. His surprise grew when he saw the older Holt sibling smiling widely.

“Heck yeah. Totally.” He said. “You think you up for this, Shiro?”

He found himself smiling and he nodded. “Course. Just don’t expect me to go easy on you.”

“Right back atcha, buddy.” Matt replied, readying his stance.

“Okay, fight fair, you two.” Allura warned, stepping away from the fight. “Fight!”

Shiro advanced first, his gaze alert to any movement Matt made. The two fought hard, landing hits on each other but neither looking like they were about to fall over.

While they fought, Shiro had to admit he was impressed by Matt’s skill and strength, remembering the scrawny Matt back on Earth, and how he had attacked him back when they were prisoners of the Galra.

At that thought, Shiro ducked out of the way to ask Matt about the wound. “Hey, does that wound I gave you hinder you at all?”

Matt fumbled his hold on his staff for a brief moment, surprised by the question. “Oh, no, not really. It healed up nicely while I was being transported from the arena place to the labour camp. You didn’t go too deep that I couldn’t walk again, luckily.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry I had to do that, Matt.” Shiro apologized, trying for a right hook. “It was the only thing I could think of to not let you die out there.”

Matt chuckled. “Yea, pretty sure I wouldn’t be alive if you hadn’t done that, Shiro. It’s fine. I’m alive now, aren’t I? And it’s not stopping me from fighting.” As if to show Shiro he wasn’t lying, Matt landed a heavy kick on Shiro’s chest, catching him by surprise and knocking him down. “See?”

“That was sneaky. Nice job, Matt.” Shiro laughed when the hand came to help him up. “Can’t believe the scrawny boy I’ve been friends with for years just whooped my butt this easily.”

“Thanks. It’s nice to know I’ve really gotten stronger.” Matt smiled brightly.

Allura joined them, extending a hand to Matt to shake. “How did you learn those moves?”

“The rebels.” Matt explained. “I had gotten stronger from the labour camp, but had no idea how to fight. The rebels had everyone learn to fight, and I’m much better with a staff than just my fists.”

“Fantastic.” Allura beamed at the two of them. “Now I have a real sparring partner until Shiro or the others gets better to match.”

“Hey, Princess.” Shiro theatrically put a hand to his heart, acting hurt. “I’m hurt you don’t think I’m a real sparring partner for you.”

“Tell me that the next time I beat you.” Allura cocked a hip, resting her hand on her other hip.

“Fine, I will, but I’ll be the one to beat you next time.” Shiro promised.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Matt sparring! This was more of a filler chapter, but hey, we get to see Matt beat both Shiro and Allura in a friendly match.


	7. Witch

Keith avoided everyone for the remainder of time they had before the mission started, even sleeping in Scarlett. The talk he had had with her helped, but even though he knew what he should do, his nerves stopped him. He was afraid that the reaction he would get wouldn’t be the one he hoped for - similar to when he realized he was starting to fall in love with Lance in the first place.

The next morning, Allura called everyone to the bridge, before making the jump to Mars.

“Save your planet. Save Pidge.” She said solemnly. “Now get to your Lions and we’ll begin the jump and start the mission. Remember the plan.”

The Paladins nodded, and it was only then that Keith noticed Matt wearing a dark green Paladin suit, but he didn’t have time to really let it sink in before he and the others headed for their respective Lions.

Once he was back in his Lion, he checked to make sure he had everything, his bayard and his mother’s dagger. He didn’t think he’d need the second blade but he wanted to be prepared for anything.

He grabbed the controls and got Scarlett into position, flying alongside the Castle of Lions as the wormhole portal appeared.

“Paladins, please be careful. We know there will be many enemies against us, so keep eyes on everything.” Allura’s voice appeared before her face did on the holographic screen in front of Keith.

“Don’t worry, Princess. We’ll be fine.” Lance replied, sounding determined. “We’ll get rid of the Galra here, and really be heroes of Earth.”

Keith scoffed with a soft smile, glad he didn’t have his own camera on.

“And Keith, when we’re finished, you and me and Hunk are talking.” Lance’s words made him choke on his breath, causing him to cough violently.

“Keith, buddy, you okay?” Hunk asked, sounding confused.

Before Keith could answer, they reached the wormhole and began flying through it.

“Not now, you three. Focus.” Shiro ordered, allowing Keith to get his breath back, and they all heard Lance grumble incomprehensibly.

Once they were out of the wormhole, Keith’s eyes widened at the familiar red of Mars. He had always seen videos and images of Mars, so seeing it with his own eyes was amazing.

They were lucky no Galra were around the planet, but Scarlett’s systems showed enemy blips surrounding Earth and around the other planets and their moons.

“Princess or Matt, think one of you could find where Haggar is?” Shiro asked, and Keith saw Black settle on the red planet, her mechanical tail flicking side to side.

Keith sidled Scarlett up next to Black as the other Lions settled on the planet as well to wait for an answer.

Matt was the first to answer. “There’s high magic concentration in the large battleship, so she might be there. That should also be the command ship.”

“Yes. I also see her heat signature is different from the Galra and prisoners in the same ship. Go, Paladins.” Allura ordered, and they were off.

The plan was simple: a few Lions would be used as bait and distractions, fighting off the other ships, while Shiro and Keith, the best offensive fighters, infiltrated the ship Haggar was in, find her, finish her, and then destroy the ship.

The beginning of the plan went well. Lance, Hunk and Matt worked well together as distractions, shouting encouragement to each other while taunting the Galra. Matt was surprisingly good at piloting the Green Lion, evading shots with as much ease as Pidge.

“Okay, you two are clear!” Hunk called to Shiro and Keith, hitting a couple fighter ships into one another. “Good luck!”

“Thanks, you guys too.” Shiro replied, and he and Keith piloted their Lions over to the main battleship.

They reached the battleship within moments, firing at any that tried to attack them before they both attacked a side of the ship.

“Okay, girl, shields up until I get back.” Keith murmured to Scarlett, getting up from his seat and heading to the small hatch in her head, his helmet up and ready. “Ready Shiro?”

“Let’s go.” Shiro responded, getting out of Black, and once they were both out, their Lions’ shields went up.

Keith hurried to the hole their Lions had made in the side of the ship, hopping into the corridor with ease, his bayard already extended to his sword, Shiro dropping to his side as well.

“C’mon.” Shiro gestured forward and the two began running.

Along the way, they still heard the fighting going outside, and their teammates smack talking the Galra. Keith barely heard anything, but he remembered a time when he had been hyperconscious of the fact he was part Galra. But now, he paid it barely a thought, only thinking of the plan and how they were going to find Haggar.

As they turned a corner, Galra sentries raised their guns and the two Paladins barely had time to get their shields up before the shots reached them. But neither spared a breath before they went on the offensive, lobbing off robotic limbs before they were going forward again.

It was when they reached a large open hallway that they had to pause. There were three branching halls ahead of them, but then two halls on either side and the hall they had just come from.

Keith growled. “We don’t have time to figure out where to go. We have to find that witch!”

“And what makes you think you’ll find her before she found you?” A voice sounded off to their left, only to see a blur of robes and white before Shiro stumbled back against an attack with a surprised shout.

“Seeing how you're here now, doesn't matter.” Keith adjusted his grip on his bayard before attempting to hack at the witch, only for her to become smoke once his sword made contact.

“Pah, but you’ll never be able to land a hit on me.” Haggar sounded smug, flashing forward and hitting Keith square in the chest, and the Red Paladin tumbled over. “You don’t have that stupid Princess with you.”

“We’ll finish you off without her help.” Shiro replied, forgoing his bayard for his Galra arm.

Both Paladins attacked her, coordinating their attacks as best as they could, but still neither could land a hit on the witch.

“You’ve lost your touch, Champion.” She sneered, hitting Shiro with a bolt of magic, causing him to fly backwards, hitting the walls behind him.

“Shiro!” Keith took his eyes off Haggar for a moment, but it was enough time to get hit by the same bolt of magic, flying backwards as well with a grunt of pain.

“Guys? You doing okay? We might need help soon.” Matt said over their helmets.

“Minor setback.” Keith growled, getting his feet under him again and going back at Haggar with a warlike shout.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you realize a plothole and have to scramble to fix it while writing. I think every time they've fought Haggar, Allura was there... Welp! Time to bullshit!


	8. Observation

It came to her in the form of a voice, different from the aggressive voice, but similar yet also different from the gentle voice.

“I’ll save… I promise…” The voice was weak, as if speaking through a long tunnel, but determined.

She reached out in the direction of the voice, finding overwhelming comfort and her throat closed up, the feeling of tears pricking the corners of her eyes, but she couldn’t understand why.

At least she didn’t until the voice brought a clear memory, several years old now by the looks of it. The girl saw her body, and she looked maybe around seven or eight, in pink overalls and a green shirt underneath, watching an older boy, somewhere in his mid teens, write stuff down on a laptop.

_“I wanna play!” The girl’s body whined, pulling at the boy’s sleeve. “You promised!”_

_“I promised after I finished this essay, I’d play whatever you want. I’m just a hundred words off the minimum, so shoo.” He flicked a hand towards the door._

_“But you said that an hour ago, Matt!” The girl complained, sticking out her tongue. “I’ve been waiting patiently, but you take too long.”_

_Matt, the boy, didn’t respond, only the clacking of the keyboard making a noise now._

_The girl huffed and stomped out of the room, calling over her shoulder. “I’m telling Mom you’re not playing with me!”_

The words bounced around her head, and next thing she knew, she was back in the void, and despite knowing it would be impossible, she felt wetness down her cheeks.

_Matt. Matt, Matt Matt Matt Matt. My brother Matt._

“My brother’s name is Matt!” She cried aloud, and it was like a hammer had cracked the void. She saw more memories coming to her, each including her brother throughout their childhood.

And with every memory, she remembered even more. The first time she got her hands on electrical stuff, falling in love with figuring out how technology worked, learning to hack into Matt’s laptop to play solitaire - she didn’t have a computer of her own, and it was never like she had a plan after getting in his laptop.

But the biggest thing was one word she remembered. Matt always said it, in annoyance, yelling after her, in fondness, any emotion a brother could have towards his sister.

“Ka _tie!_ _Katie!_ Katie…”

Her heart seemed to ache at the name, as if it wanted to wrap itself around the word to hold it close and never let her forget it again. But she knew she hadn’t remembered everything yet, she could feel there was still more for her to connect the dots, but she - Katie, _gosh it felt good to think of herself as Katie_ \- felt more confident than before about remembering everything.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Haggar easily pushed Keith back, much to his chagrin. But when he got his feet under him again and was about to raise his sword for another attack, the witch poofed into smoke, as if coming towards him when she vanished.

Shiro let out a shout and in the time it took Keith to turn around to see what was happening, he heard something that sounded like metal screeching against metal, to see bright violet sparks come between Haggar’s hand and Shiro’s Galra arm.

Thinking quickly, Keith landed a solid kick on the witch, sending her stumbling back with a furious snarl.

“Looks like we don’t need the Princess to get you.” Keith taunted, readjusting his grip.

“Lucky shot, pathetic humans. I will still win your heads as prizes.” She swore.

Keith felt pretty cocky, as he laughed mockingly at her.

With a growl, she sent a bolt of magical electricity at him before vanishing again, appearing this time on Shiro’s right, opposite of Keith, and swiped at him. The Black Paladin managed to parry the attack at the last second, but Keith used the parry to his advantage. He struck at Haggar, only managing to nick her arm, more like giving her a papercut.

Both sides were growing annoyed by the fight, but neither backing down. Keith could only guess what Haggar was thinking, but he knew the reasons he and Shiro weren’t about to stop and let her get away.

It became a game of back and forth between the two sides, all able to land hits now as the three grew sloppy, but Keith had been paying attention to Haggar closely, watching how she moved and began to see where she would vanish to in time to stop a surprise attack or surprise her with an attack of his own.

The tides turned when Haggar landed a brutal hit on Shiro’s side, the same place where she had hit him before, and he crumpled to the ground. Keith saw red and didn’t allow Haggar to gloat or finish him off.

“Give it up, you whelp.” She hissed, moving out of the way of a swipe. “You can’t win now. I’ll kill you both, or-”

“Shut up.” Keith seethed through his teeth, but she continued, with a wicked grin.

“Or maybe I’ll use Champion to bring me back my Pawn.” She taunted, and as her hood had been tossed back several minutes ago by a team attack of Shiro and Keith, the Red Paladin saw her eyes dart around the space in preparation of vanishing there. “That was my best experiment.”

“Shut-” He shouted, raising his sword above his head when Haggar poofed again, but he was ready.

She appeared at his left side, arms extended with a large amount of purple magic between them when Keith shifted gears. He readjusted his grip in a millisecond and swung his sword in an arc, ending in a swift stab.

Haggar gasped, but Keith grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed deeper.

“You’ll never hurt me or my friends again.” He growled, stabbing her again - in the heart this time - before letting go.

She slumped to the ground, as if her bones had become dust, her mouth gaping like a fish out of water. Keith stayed at the ready, watching her writhe and twitch until they finally stopped.

“...th… Ke… Keith!” The Red Paladin jumped at the shouting in his helmet, realizing he had been watching a corpse for several minutes, and that he and Shiro had been quiet for too long for the others still fighting. “Keith!”

“Huh, what? What?!” He shouted back, turning away from Haggar’s body. “You guys still doing okay?”

“Yeah, but what about you? You gave me a heart attack, why weren’t you speaking!!” Lance sounded exasperated.

“Fine, I’m okay…” He turned to check on Shiro, who had found time during the quick battle of Keith and Haggar to lean against a nearby wall, hand pressed hard against his wound, and even from where he stood, could tell Shiro was breathing hard. “But Shiro’s been hurt.”

“Oh we know. He caught us up while you went dead silent. You wouldn’t even answer him.” Matt said over the comms. “Just get him and get out.”

Keith frowned. “No, we still have to get to the command room and blow it up.”

“Get Shiro out of there.” Matt ordered. “You can do that when he’s out of the firing range.”

Keith was caught off-balance by the commanding tone the older Holt sibling had, but silently had to agree. Shiro had to get to safety before they could destroy the main base for this Galra branch.

He went to Shiro. “Can you walk by yourself?”

“I’d be lying if I said yes.” Shiro laughed, looking pained as the movement triggered the wound.

“Okay, c’mon.” Keith grabbed the free arm and wrapped it around his shoulders, taking half of the leader’s weight.

They made their way back quickly and quietly, luckily not seeing any guards on their way to the large hole their Lions had made before.

“Think you can get to your Lion by yourself here?” Keith asked the other, who nodded. “Okay. I won’t be too long, and I’ll keep you all posted.”

He got a chorus of okays from the others, as he watched Shiro use his jetpack to lift off into space, heading towards Black without much difficulty.

As soon as Shiro disappeared into his Lion, Keith turned back and ran towards where his map told him was the command center.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pidge's part in this fic is something I had been waiting impatiently to write. It was a lot of fun, too.  
> Last chapter is coming up! Soon we'll be on the last fic of the series, I'm excited to finally be nearing the end!


	9. Pod

Shiro had to take deep breaths to control himself. He couldn’t slip yet. Not until he was back in the Castle of Lions, until the Galra were out of his home’s system.

He reached Huyen in under a minute, feeling her rumbling in his mind worriedly, both knowing how badly he was hurt again.

“You should be used to this from me by now, you know.” He muttered to her with a smile.

“Did you say something, Shiro?” Hunk asked through the comms, making Shiro laugh painfully.

“No, nothing. I’m back with my Lion. I don’t think I’ll be able to help you guys though.” He told the three, blinking hard. “Think things are getting blurry.”

“Keith…” Lance sounded like he was going to warn the Red Paladin. “You better hurry.”

“Shiro, you get back to the ship.” Matt told him. “We can handle things.”

“No, I’m waiting for Keith.” He argued.

“Shiro.” Matt’s voice went commanding again. “You’re hurt. Fall back now. Please.”

Shiro went quiet, looking over to where he saw the Green Lion slip between battleships with ease, reminding him that although Matt wasn’t a pilot, nor a fighter by nature, he was quick at adapting, very similar to Lance at times but with the Holt Mindset.

“Fine, I’ll fall back.” He said, taking the controls while gritting his teeth and breathing as slowly as he could to not agitate the wound. “Watch each other’s backs.”

“We will.” Hunk, Lance, and Matt responded in unison.

“I just reached the command center. Be prepared for this ship to go down.” Keith said as Shiro turned Huyen around.

“Hurry up and do it then, Mullet!” Lance called over a hail of attacks.

They all heard Keith grumble something under his breath but Shiro was either hearing his heartbeat in his ears or just couldn’t understand Keith. He shook his head and focused on getting to Mars and the Castle of Lions.

As he did, he opened the comms to the ship. “Allura. I’m coming in.”

“What? Why? What about the others?” Her face appeared in a small square off to the side of the screen, and she took in his expression. “Are you okay, Shiro?”

“Haggar managed to hit the exact same spot as last time we fought.” Shiro gave a pained lopsided smile. “The others are keeping the Galra busy while Keith blows up the command center, and with it the entire command ship. Hopefully it’ll give them the message to leave our home.”

“You guys…?” Her questioning expression was answered by Shiro’s own expression, and she broke into a wide smile. “Oh thank goodness. One evil is finally gone from the universe.”

“Yeah. Keith landed the killing blow.” Shiro chuckled. He was relieved to have seen the witch die with his own eyes but was somewhat disappointed that he had not been the one to kill her himself.

He listened to the other Paladins as he flew his Lion back to the Castle, keeping an ear out for any distress, but heard none as he reached Huyen’s hangar.

“Can you get Coran to come get me? I don’t think I can reach the med bay by myself like this.” Shiro said, pressing against his wound again once he knew he didn’t have to control his Lion.

“Oh, the princess is already on her way, Shiro.” Coran said, and the Black Paladin had to blink at the screen in bewilderment.

“Oh. Okay. Thanks, Coran.” He said.

Within a couple minutes, the back of the cockpit opened, and Allura stepped through, looking worried.

“C’mon, let’s get you to the bay and to a pod.” She said in a soft tone, helping Shiro up easily. In his pain-hazy mind, he almost forgot how superhumanly strong Allura was.

“Yeah, okay.” He answered, gladly letting the princess help him out of the Black Lion and towards the medical bay.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

The gentle voice had been correct, Katie realized. All the pieces had been there, she just had to reach for the right thing. It just happened the right thing was her brother’s voice.

After figuring out her name, it was only a matter of time before she remembered more recent adventures, but not all of them were happy like her childhood. She remembered the news lying about the deaths of her father and brother and Shiro, getting kicked out of the Garrison when she was _so close_ to finding the truth of what happened on Kerberos, and having to disguise herself as a boy to get back into the academy, under the name Pidge.

For a few slow moments, she had struggled over which name meant more to her before giving up. Katie was the name she grew up with, and would always be her name, but Pidge held a different light to her life, and she was at least comfortable with that name being associated with her.

With her memory back, she found herself no longer in a black, empty void, but large open space filled with stars, and each pinprick of light was a memory. She found it amusing her memories were all over the place, but after so long being in the dark with only gentle and aggressive voices to keep her company, she wasn’t about to complain.

As she looked around her space-themed view, she couldn’t help but flinch at the most recent memories, understanding how the first one came to be. But it made sense as to why she couldn’t remember who she was for so long. The magic and pain scrambled her mind over and over until she couldn’t think, much less keep any sort of sanity.

But with her memories back and in order, Katie couldn’t help but wonder what to do now. The last thing she remembered was… Stabbing Lance in his stomach with a dagger, hearing Matt’s voice, getting knocked out, then waking up and talking to Allura. Everything after that was… Nothing. She had no idea where she was, or if she was safe or not. She hoped it was the former.

Gosh, she hoped she was safe.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Allura and Shiro reached the medical bay. Allura placed the Black Paladin on the steps so she could open a pod for him, before she noticed a new reading coming from Pidge’s pod. Her hands hovered over the controls for the several moments to understand why there was brainwave activity coming from the girl, and she gasped.

Shiro looked at her in confusion. “What is it, Princess?”

“Pidge. She. Oh my goodness.” Allura hoped she was making sense, as she quickly pulled up Pidge’s pod along with an empty one for Shiro.

“What’s wrong with Pidge?” Shiro sounded worried, but Allura hushed him, walking over to the girl’s pod and allowing it to open finally.

The pod _fwshhed_ open, and the two watched as colour appeared to Pidge’s face and she groaned softly, eyes squeezing shut as if to shy away from the light of the ship before she opened them, one at a time, watching as they blinked up at the Altean in front of her.

“Pr-Princess…?”

Story done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another ending completed. Wow, I can't believe I've actually almost finished this series.  
> Almost done, but if you've been paying attention, I still have a few plot-holes to close, and everything will be finished in Black Paladin. Now, I hope to be able to post twice a week for the last fic, but you won't see the first chapter until next Friday!

**Author's Note:**

> Like the last fic, I can't update twice a week, so we'll keep with the every Friday deal. Hopefully when Black Paladin is up and ready, we can do the twice a week update, because that was fun. We'll see.


End file.
